LIGHTING THE WAY

We live a fair bit out of the way to be a part of anyone’s twinkle tour.  Houses in rural Saskatchewan are getting further and further apart – there are fewer farmers farming much more land than was the norm a couple of decades ago.  And, it’s not uncommon for them to decide to live in town, as well.  It makes for a feeling of privacy, tranquility, and peace for those of us who choose the country life.

But, when I put up my outdoor Christmas lights, I know very few people are going to see them.

It doesn’t deter me though.  I have grandchildren who think they are pretty and they spend a fair amount of time here over the holidays; I do it for them.

And me.  I also do it for me.

I began, years ago, with a fifteen foot blue spruce just east of the house.  What’s the point of having a Christmas tree and not decorate it, after all?  At first it took two strings of lights, and then three.  I am now up to four strings and that doesn’t take the lights to the top by any means.  But it’s as far as anyone can go without a picker truck.  Sadly, I do not possess a picker truck.

This year I went ahead and bought light string number five before I was forced to accept my lack of picker truck capabilities.  It took me a cup of tea and a half hour of contemplation before I decided that this was an opportunity, not a set back, and went back out to devise an optical illusion Christmas tree down by the well.  Not only did a single string of lights create a tree, this one could be seen without having to leave the house.  I’m pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

But, the yard looked unfinished so off I went to town and bought another string of lights for my little Amur maple tree.  To look at the actual bulbs on this string is misleading.  They are tiny, insignificant things but the light they put out is amazing; the colours dazzling.  And, even better, this tree is almost right out in front of the house.  It lights up the whole front yard.  It also lights up my smile as I do the dishes after supper – out there, twinkling in the dark, the wind giving it movement and extra sparkle.

There is also the indoor Christmas tree.  I still buy a real one every year, refusing to think about the money I throw away every January.  I love the smell of the real ones.  The prelit artificial ones just don’t have the rich, bright colours I like to use.  This time of year has too many hours of darkness; I need all the light and colour I can get!

As much as I love all of my trees, though, it’s the laser lights that have never worked properly since I first brought them home that I love the most.  They were the first generation of the laser option and I paid crazy money for them because my whole family was going to be home that year and I wanted the best of everything.  These things are designed to be installed outside and aimed at the house, projecting a light show of moving lights or shapes across the building’s walls.  Mine refuse to move, or blink, or do anything but shine.

From the outside this is a disappointment.  When the plan was for dancing lights and changing colours and all I got was pin points of red and green in a static grid pattern, I felt gypped.   But, life went on and our house filled to bursting, and over that crazy, dizzy, noisy holiday I grew to love that my interior walls and ceilings were decorated in Christmas coloured dots of light.  They acted as decorations, as night lights, as red and green freckles on anyone standing in their beams.  They have never worked properly but I wouldn’t dream of not putting them up every single year.  They stir the memories of that 2014 Christmas every time I see them.

A few of their beams even make into our bedroom and shimmer across the stippled ceiling.  I don’t know why but the laser beams that are sharp and clear in the air out side but once through the window glass are refracted in a way that make the lights look like lace when they hit the wall.  It’s the last thing I see before I fall asleep and the first thing I see in the morning.

One of my favorite things to do this time of the year is to take a twinkle tour drive to see what people do to decorate, and I welcome everyone to come see mine if they want, but unless you come inside for a cup of cheer you’ll never see the ones I love the best.